Greater Western Sydney chairman Tony Shepherd has urged all neutral Victorian footy fans, including Collingwood president Eddie McGuire, to come out and support his young team in Saturday's preliminary final against Richmond.
Shepherd said he understood there would be at least 75,000 Tigers' supporters at the MCG - in what would amount to the most lopsided fan count in AFL finals' history - and appealed to non-aligned Victorians to come out and give his underdogs some encouragement.
"I can't imagine Collingwood and Carlton and Essendon fans want to see Richmond win, do they?" Shepherd told ESPN. "I think a lot of Victorian footy fans have got a sneaking regard for what we've achieved in the six years we've been around, especially given the injuries we've had this season, and like to support an underdog.
"I reckon Eddie (McGuire) should get out his orange scarf on Saturday and show his support for GWS, a young, up-and-coming team in a tough national competition. If he knew how much that would get under the skin of the Sydney Swans, he actually might do it!"
Shepherd, a successful businessman and former Business Council of Australia president, said he had been moved to speak to the Giants' players this week, and try to prepare them for the Tiger army's wall of noise that will greet them on Saturday.
He was surprised by their response. "I did speak to them about it but they didn't seem too fussed at all," he told ESPN. "They said: 'we'll shut 'em up'. And young players like (Jacob) Hopper, (Josh) Kelly and (Tim) Taranto, it is amazing just how poised they are.
"Having said that, we do have some players with lots of finals experience, like Shaw, Mumford and Stevie J, so it's not as if we're complete novices. There have been times in the club's history where we've had almost zero support, and were getting flogged each week, so in that sense we're flame hardened. We're used to dealing with adversity."
Tickets for the #AFLTigersGiants Preliminary Final are now sold out. No further tickets will be released for sale. #AFLFinals
— AFL (@AFL) September 21, 2017
Coach Leon Cameron, however, has taken training this week with loud music blaring out through speakers to help prepare his team for the unprecedented noise levels at the MCG.
Shepherd estimated there might be 1000 or 1500 Giants' fans who make the trip down to Melbourne for the game. Coupled with the club's small number of Melbourne-based supporters, and those Victorians who couldn't bear the thought of a Richmond victory, the total GWS fan base might swell to 8,000 or so.
The former Transfield chairman said he was so proud of his team for reaching the top four after a difficult year in which several key players were struck down with injury. "It proves how resilient we are, and how courageous," Shepherd told ESPN. "And going down this weekend to the lions' den, or the Tigers' den more accurately, we're going to need all that resilience and more ..."